Elaborate Drug Bust Lands Dozens in Jail

2013-09-13T19:32:55Z2013-09-19T15:07:53Z

STEPHENS CO., Okla_ An early
morning drug bust in Stephens
County landed more than
two dozen suspected drug dealers behind bars.

The District Attorney's
Drug Task Force teamed up with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and several
other agencies this morning after a months-long investigation. They focused
this bust on suspects known for selling drugs, including prescription pills.

75 officials
were briefed at 5:00AM before hitting the streets in Stephens County.

"It's a
problem that we deal with just like any other community," District Attorney
Jason Hicks said. "We do this from time to time."

The District Attorney's
Drug Task Force and the OBN were joined by the Stephens County Sheriff's Office
and police departments from Duncan, Comanche and Marlow all before sunrise.

Hicks said the
street dealers were the biggest target.

"If we
have a distribution cycle, we can take some of the people out of that
distribution cycle and hopefully have an influence on the flow of narcotics
inside the county," Hicks said. "It wasn't concentrated on one particular area,
and it wasn't concentrated on one particular drug."

One by one, the
suspects were taken to the Criminal Justice Complex in Duncan. It wasn't just one city in their
crosshairs, though.

"We've had
people who were arrested in Duncan,"
Hicks said. "We've had people who were arrested in Comanche and Marlow."

In all, 25 Stephens County residents were taken into
custody. Hicks said he hopes Friday's bust will send a message to drug dealers
still out there.

"We make
sure they understand you're going to get caught at some point, and when you do,
we're going to make sure you're incarcerated for it," Hicks said. "It's
extremely important to me and to the drug task force to insure that we take
those people off the street, so that we can at least break that portion of the
chain."

The operation led officials to a few extra suspects
on active warrants, so Hicks said the total arrest number could be close to 30.

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Trump's remarks Tuesday amounted to a rejection of the Republicans, business leaders and White House advisers who earlier this week had pushed the president to more forcefully and specifically condemn the KKK members, neo-Nazis and white supremacists who took to the streets of Charlottesville.